How to submit your stream and promote the Player

The Public Radio Player is here to help your station reach existing listeners wherever they go, and reach new listeners, too. The project is open to all public radio stations in the United States (see below for eligibility). To be included, visit http://player.publicbroadcasting.net and fill out the online form. You can submit more than one stream — including HD streams and multiple bit rate options — just submit each one separately. The more public radio station participation, the better this application will be!

As the Player evolves, so does the contact list. We get a lot of inquiries, so please give us time to get to yours.

  • To submit and edit station and stream information: http://player.publicbroadcasting.net (managed by Public Interactive)
  • To update stream schedules: http://player.publicbroadcasting.net
  • To update on-demand information: email publicradioplayer .at. prx .dot. org with “Station:” in the subject (managed by Public Radio Exchange)
  • For general questions about the app: email publicradioplayer .at. prx .dot. org with “Station:” in the subject

If your listeners have questions about the Public Radio Player that you can’t answer, please direct them to http://www.publicradioplayer.org, where they can post a comment on our Give Feedback page, which we monitor regularly.

1. Check if your stream qualifies for inclusion

To be in the Public Radio Player, your station must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • CPB qualified
  • NPR member station
  • APM affiliate
  • PRI affiliate
  • PRX paid station member
  • National Federation of Community Broadcasters participating member
  • Station Resource Group member station

2. Check if you’re already in the Player

First, double-check to see if your station is already in the Public Radio Player. Click here for a complete list of participating stations.

3. Gather the necessary information

First, gather and review the information you will need to submit. Below are the recommended technical specs for live audio streams in the Public Radio Player.

Required stream information
Station Name: Maximum of 35 characters/spaces
Station Logo: Format may be .gif, .jpg, or .png
Height cannot exceed 100px
Width cannot exceed 242px
Call Letters & Frequency: Maximum of 22 characters/space
Website address: Maximum of 35 characters/spaces (Currently this is NOT linked in the app)
Supported Stream Formats
  • The Player supports MP3, AIFF, AIFC, WAVE, CAF, NeXt, and ADTS formats and performs best with streams 64kbps or lower.
  • The Player does NOT support Windows Media (.wma) or Real Media (.ram) streams, nor can it read streams from a Flash player.
  • The Player CANNOT extract the stream from .pls and .m3u files, even if it supports the streams they contain. Please provide the direct stream instead.
Keep in mind:
Reporting: The Public Radio Player calls your station’s Internet stream. As a result, you should be able to use your existing reporting tools to measure use of your stream through the player. The Public Radio Player and the organizations involved in the collaboration will not have access to reporting data specific to your station’s stream.
Bandwidth: Our goal is to make the Public Radio Player widely adopted. Stations should be aware that inclusion in this application may increase usage of their Internet streams. If you have concerns about being able to support additional use of your Internet stream, address the issue with the technical contact at your station.
Legal: This application is similar to many other online Internet radio directories where public radio stations are listed. As such, there is no required contract. However, stations do need to accept the terms included on the sign-up form in order to participate.

4. Submit your stream

Visit Public Interactive’s station support site and click Add Stream at the top of the page.

5. Promote your participation in the Public Radio Player

Your iPhone presence is something to be proud about. We have plans to allow donations to stations within the app in future releases, too. So get the word out! Use your air, use your website. If you have podcasts or online streams, promote it there, too. If you have a presence on a social network or blog, why not post an announcement? Feel free to copy and paste from this website, or contact us for ideas.

Direct and Affiliate Links

The direct link to the Public Radio Player in the iTunes Store is: http://tinyurl.com/publicradioplayer

If you are already a member of the Apple iTunes affiliate program, managed by LinkShare, we encourage you to generate an affiliate link and post it on your site. Apple pays 5% commission for sales from traffic your site refers. You can join the program here.
If you don’t have an affiliate membership but want to help support the project, we invite you to use PRX’s affiliate link (just right click and copy this URL). You can use this link with one of the Web graphics below.

Web Graphics

We have a number of web high resolution graphics in various sizes to use on your station site.

Promo graphic 300 x 250
Promo graphic  200 x 150
Promo graphic  160 x 600
Public Radio Player icon (large)
Public Radio Player icon (medium)

Public Radio Player icon (small)

New Badges for Your Blog

We put together some new graphics that can be used by stations, program websites, and bloggers. Download and post in your sidebar using an html or text box.
Sizes
Badge 300 x 250
Badge 200 x 150
Badge 160 x 600

NEW: Audio Promos Available!

Public Radio Player promos voiced by Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me host Peter Sagal are available for on-air or online use:

On Air Promo 1 – MP2 download
On Air Promo 2 - MP2 download
On Air Promo 3 - MP2 download
On Air Promo 4 - MP2 download
Web Bumper (with music) - MP2 download
Web Bumper (dry) - MP2 download

Video demo of Public Radio Player 2.0

Here’s a brief tour of the latest version of the Player. Feel free to embed on your site.

On-Air Promotional Copy (suggested)

“Introducing the Public Radio Player. iPhone users can listen to [your Station Name/Call Letters] for free via streaming audio. For more information on [Station Name/Call Letters], visit [Station URL - OR - Public Radio Player DOT Org].”

“Live streaming audio from [your Station Name/Call Letters] is now available on iPhones using the free Public Radio Player app. For more information, visit [Station URL - OR - Public Radio Player DOT Org].”

“You can now stream [your Station Name/Call Letters] using the Public Radio Player on your iPhone or iPod Touch. For more information on the free download, visit [Station URL - OR - Public Radio Player DOT Org].”

“Listen to [your Station Name/Call Letters] on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Download the free Public Radio Player and enjoy public radio on the go. More information available at [Station URL - OR - Public Radio Player DOT Org].”

What about future versions and new features for the Public Radio Player?

iPhone applications can develop and improve well beyond the launch date. Comments on this website as well as reviews in the iTunes Store are helping to guide our plans for future releases, so feel free to add your comments, too. Stations do not need to resubmit their streams to be included in future updates to the Public Radio Player.

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One Comment on “Info for Stations”

  1. Public Radio Tuner » Blog Archive » Where’s my favorite station? said at 1:55 pm on January 14th, 2009:

    [...] Guide for Stations [...]